


Gallant

by Crunchysunrises



Series: A Thousand Quiet Moments [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-02
Updated: 2011-12-02
Packaged: 2017-12-25 06:03:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/949499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crunchysunrises/pseuds/Crunchysunrises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p> On the day that he makes genin, Itachi sees Sakura.  It changes the course of his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Edellin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edellin/gifts).



> None

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title:** Gallant  
>  **Fandom:** Naruto  
>  **Rating:** PG  
>  **Content Notes:** None  
>  **Disclaimer:** I have no rights or claims to the Naruto franchise, trademark, copyright, or characters. This is fun, not profit.  
>  **Summary:** On the day that he makes genin, Itachi sees Sakura. It changes the course of his life.  
>  **Additional Notes:** Written to fill [](http://edellin.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](http://edellin.dreamwidth.org/)**edellin** 's Wishlist 2011 prompt.  
>  **Definition:** Gallant - _As an adjective:_ 1\. brave, spirited, noble-minded, or chivalrous: _a gallant knight; a gallant rescue attempt._ 2\. exceptionally polite and attentive to women; courtly. 3. stately; grand: _a gallant pageant._ 4\. showy, colorful, or stylish, as in dress; magnificent. 5. amorous; amatory. _As a noun:_ 6\. a brave, noble-minded, or chivalrous man. 7. a man exceptionally attentive to women. 8. a stylish and dashing man. 9. a suitor or lover. 10. a paramour. _Verb (used as an object):_ 11\. to court or act as a lover of (a woman). 12. to escort (a woman). _Verb (used without object):_ to attend or pay court as a gallant.

The first time Itachi went to the Haruno Tea Shop, it was actually a street vendor’s cart.  The cart had been passing by their training ground just as his newly formed genin team had been leaving it.

“Let’s celebrate!”  Hideki-sensei said.  He darted across the street to the cart.  Like a ragged procession of murderous ducklings, Itachi, Iruka and Hana darted after him.  They joined him in time to hear him say to the street cart vendor, “I’ll buy tea and two sticks of dango for everyone.”

The civilian woman smiled.  A long red scarf was looped around and across her chest.  It secured a bundle to her back.  The scarf tucked in the edges of her dress, emphasizing how much smaller she was than the garment she was wearing.  Assuming the dress belonged to her, she had been quite a bit bigger when she had bought it.  The woman’s vibrant pink hair served to make the bags under her eyes darker and her skin paler.  She looked tired, even unwell.

Itachi’s heart clenched.  He disliked it when people looked like that.  It reminded him of the kyuubi and the war.  People who looked like that usually died.

“That’s wonderful,” she said as she passed out dango.  Her tone was bright even though the edges of her voice seemed worn and tired to Itachi’s ears.  “Congratulations!”

Hana and Iruka beamed.  Itachi smiled politely.

When everyone hand their dango sticks, she squatted to retrieve bamboo cups for them.  Itachi could finally see what the woman had so carefully tied to her back.

It was a baby.

It was small and swaddled in so many blankets against the cold that Itachi had no idea if it was a boy or a girl.  It was just a little bit bigger than Sasuke.

Shock jolted through Itachi.

“You have a baby!” he blurted.

Iruka, his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk’s, blinked at Itachi like he doubted Itachi’s sanity.

Hana snorted.

Hideki-sensei smiled.

Even though he knew they were laughing at him, all Itachi could feel was sadness.

_When the woman dies, who will look after her baby?_

The woman straightened.  She smiled at him before she began pouring four cups of chilled green tea for his team.

“Yes.  Her name is Sakura.”  She considered Itachi for a moment before she said, “Would you like to see her?”

“No,” Itachi said.  His voice was as stiff and cold as his face felt.

He stuffed a dango in his mouth.  It tasted good in a sad sort of way.  Itachi chewed it extra hard for making him feel sadder.

Hana and Iruka – who were both older than him – exchanged what was meant to be a heavily coded _teenager_ look.  Itachi ignored it.  Let them be super secret teenagers together.  Someday, he would be a teenager and have someone to share super secret looks with too.

The woman nodded as if Itachi had not been rude.

And that should have been it.

But Itachi found himself worrying about that baby at odd moments like when he brushed his teeth or walked to his team’s meeting place.

What if the woman had died?  What if the baby had no father?  What if no one found the baby and took it to an orphanage?  What if it died because no one cared to look for it?

Two days after he had first set eyes on the woman and her baby, Itachi decided he was hungry for dango.  Instead of going straight home after Hideki-sensei dismissed them for the afternoon, he went looking for that woman.

It took him three hours to find her cart.  She looked worse than he remembered.  And this time, her nose was very pink.  Her baby was cuddled against her chest.

“Two sticks of dango and green tea, please,” Itachi said.

The woman gave him two of her last sticks.  When she bent to get a cup for his tea, Itachi studied the baby covertly.  Pink wisps had escaped the swaddling.  It seemed to be asleep.

Itachi paid for his snack and left.

A week later, Hideki-sensei said that they should have a team lunch somewhere.

“The dango cart,” Itachi said immediately.

“Yeah!” Iruka agreed enthusiastically.  “It’s tradition!”

Hana shot them both scornful looks.

“I’m not eating dango for lunch,” she said.  “I need meat!”

One of her puppies yipped his agreement with her.  Itachi had trouble keeping the puppies’ names straight.

“Real food first, dango for desert,” Hideki-sensei decreed.

They ended up eating yakisoba then going for dango.  Hana wanted to go to the nearest tea shop but Itachi stubbornly insisted on the tea cart.  Fortunately, Iruka and tradition were on his side.

Hana and her puppies stomped after them.

When they arrived, the civilian and her baby were still alive.  This time, the baby was secured to her mother’s front.  A tiny hand fisted itself into her mother’s neckline.  The baby was savagely gumming on a new stuffed tiger.

“Hello again!” the vendor said cheerfully.  She seemed better than before.  “What’ll it be?”

The dango were delicious.

Itachi wondered why he had never noticed that before.

Every week after that, Team Twelve ate real food somewhere then went for dango at their tea cart.  They ate there even when the baby fussed and wailed, much to Hana’s (very vocal) horror.

One day, Itachi noticed that the baby was looking at him.  Smiling, he looked up from his snack.

Itachi stilled.  His breath shuddered out of him. 

The baby’s eyes were bright _green._

He stared.  The baby stared back.

Pink hair was rare but green eyes were rarer.

 _They’re beautiful,_ Itachi thought.

When he came back the next day without his team, Itachi was disappointed to find that the baby’s pretty eyes were closed.  She was asleep.

He bought himself a stick of dango anyway.

After that, Itachi looked for the baby’s eyes every time he visited the cart.

Two months later, after Itachi had made a third tomae appear in his sharingan, his team celebrated by taking him out to the dango stand.

It was winter and windy.  The dango seller had on several coats and a cloak.  Most of her hair was tucked up in a fuzzy hat and everything but her wide brown eyes was hidden by her woolly scarf.  Her baby was just a misshapen bulge at the front of her body.

Itachi was both relieved and disappointed.  He was glad that the baby was being kept warm.  He was disappointed that there was no hope of seeing the baby’s green eyes in the near future.

Just after the New Year, the civilian woman traded in her dango cart for a dango stall.

The cherry blossoms were blooming when Itachi next saw the baby’s eyes.  By then, the baby was wiggly, energetic and _loud_.  She babbled real and nonsense words, scribbled on menus, banged on pots somewhere behind the counter and gleefully shrieked ‘Doggie!’ every time she set eyes on Hana’s canine partners.  To their credit, the puppies patiently put up with tail tugging, rough baby pats and accidental ear twists.

With her pale skin, green eyes and pink hair, Sakura resembled the trees for which she had been named.

She was a beautiful baby.

Iruka and Hideki-sensei seemed to have a way with her.  They would coax the little girl close for hugs and silly games and taught her to say irritating phrases to Itachi.  Hana, who had never been particularly attached to the child, was less than impressed.

So was Itachi.  The girl talked, played and seemed to understand more than Sasuke did but his little brother was more fun.  Sasuke could run and kick and catch things.  The girl still toddled about on unsteady legs.  And Sasuke cuddled and sloppily kissed and _never_ bit Itachi.

Sakura bit Itachi _all the time._

The first time, Sakura lured Itachi close by offering him her sippy cup.  The next thing Itachi knew, he was holding her sippy cup and she was happily chomping on his hand.  After that, it was impossible for Itachi to visit the stand without getting bitten by Sakura.

She would crawl over to play with the puppies and then, when Itachi was sipping his tea or distracted by Hana, she would attack.  Itachi always caught Sakura to protect her from sharp corners and head bumping.  As soon as he plucked her out of danger, Sakura always sank her impossibly sharp baby teeth into Itachi’s flesh.  And she usually drew blood.  The only scar on Itachi’s entire body was a bite mark on his calf.  It had just been too embarrassing to get it seen to by a medic nin.

It was clear to Itachi that Sakura’s father had been a green-eyed shark.  And no amount of science from Hana or teasing from Iruka was going to change Itachi’s mind.

Hana, who strongly disapproved of Sakura’s attentions to her dogs, thought it was hysterical.

“She’s doing it on purpose,” Hana said once while putting antiseptic on Itachi’s newest bite mark.  It was on his forearm.

“Babies aren’t that smart,” Itachi immediately argued.

Hana snorted.  “They’re smart enough to notice cause and effect.”

Itachi frowned at Hana.

“She’s clumsy.”

“It’s a trap,” Hana said with a toothy smile.  “And you fall for it every time.”

The next time Itachi went to the tea shop, he was alone.

“Hello, Itachi,” said Mrs. Haruno with a bright smile.

“Hello.  I’d like a stick of dango, please,” Itachi replied as the tiny pink terror toddled around the corner of the counter.  She was dragging a worn stuffed tiger in her wake.  When Sakura trained her fantastic eyes on him and smiled her sweet, baby smile at him, Itachi smiled back.

Then she toddled toward him.  Somewhere along the way, she tripped on a particularly thick patch of air.  When Itachi caught her, he was careful to grab her from behind.  He hated to see a child get hurt but he was very tired of being bitten.

Sakura looked thoroughly put out.

“No biting,” Itachi said sternly.  “Biting bad.”

Sakura pouted at him as if she might actually understand what he was saying.

“No biting,” Itachi repeated.

When he set her on her feet, Sakura turned around and bit the side of his leg.

Itachi sighed.

“Hana was wrong.  You have no idea what I’m saying.”

Sakura gave his thigh a friendly gnaw.

The first time Itachi’s team left the village it was to escort an old man to a mostly civilian city in Suna.  It was a boring trip.  While he was in the foreign city, Itachi bought a stuffed dinosaur for Sasuke and green ribbons for Sakura’s hair.

Sasuke dragged that dinosaur everywhere with him.

Sakura wore those ribbons until they were filthy and tattered.

Itachi continued to bring them little things – pretty seashells from a beach in Wave Country, sweets from a town in Land of Honey and oranges from a plantation in Land of Birds.

When Hideki-sensei signed Team Twelve up for the chunin exams in Rock, the entire team ate lunch at the Haruno Tea Shop before leaving.  Sakura, who seemed to understand that they were going away for a long time, gave everyone a crayon.

One of Hana’s dogs ate her good luck crayon before they left the village.  Hideki-sensei used his to kill a bandit on the way to Rock.  Iruka used his to pass the second portion of the exams.  Itachi, proudly wearing his new chunin vest, brought his home again.  It was undamaged and had a pair of yellow hair ribbons tied to it.

Itachi was not the only one with a new vest.  Hana and Iruka had them too.  Hideki-sensei was terribly proud of Team Twelve.  It made Itachi feel warm and proud and cared for.

At home, his father nodded sharply at him then went to tell the clan council.  His mother hugged him.  Sasuke and Green (the dinosaur) hugged him, kissed his cheeks and went to play with the set of magnetic rocks Itachi had brought him.

His family celebrated with a clan feast in their house.  The elders made long, boring toasts and everyone congratulated Itachi’s father on having such a talented son.  No one seemed to notice when Itachi slipped upstairs to play with Sasuke.

His team celebrated with a party at the Haruno Tea Shop.  (It was still really a stall.)  When Itachi gave Sakura her crayon and her hair ribbons, she squealed and bounced and clapped.  She immediately made Hideki-sensei put the ribbons in her hair.  The bows his sensei tied were lopsided and messy but Itachi liked to look at the patches of yellow in her pink hair.  Iruka gave Sakura a new box of crayons to replace the ones that were destroyed.  Sakura bounced and giggled and clapped over that too.

He could never prove it, but Itachi was nearly certain that Iruka put little Sakura up to kissing his cheek and then biting his ear during their team dinner.  He just looked far too pleased with himself to be uninvolved.

At least Sakura no longer drew blood when she bit.

After that, Itachi’s missions changed.  They were harder, bloodier and more exciting.  Sometimes, they were without his genin team.  They made Itachi feel… bad.

When he came home from them, he spent more time with Sasuke and Sakura.

The first time Itachi killed a man, he was ten and a half years old.  The man’s blood had spattered across his face and hands.  It was very warm.  And messy.  There seemed to be… fleshy chunks… and white chips of bone… _everywhere._

 ** _He’s_** _messy,_ Itachi corrected himself.  _And… getting colder… and everywhere… I put him everywhere.  And… he smells like roasted pork…_

Itachi promptly vomited yellow stomach bile all over what was left of his enemy.  Hideki-sensei was busy making sure that Hana survived.  Iruka was nearby though.  When Itachi finished vomiting, Iruka passed him a canteen.  Itachi swished the water around his mouth and between his teeth.  He was very careful to spit the water to the side of the man.

 _The corpse,_ Itachi corrected himself.  He blinked his eyes and stilled his sharingan.  The image of the dead man – the man _he_ had _killed_ – was there behind his eyelids.  Thanks to the sharingan, it would _always_ be behind Itachi’s eyelids.  _He’s not a man any longer.  Now he’s just dead._

Itachi had nightmares about that man’s (nonexistent) face for a long time.

After getting back to Konohagakure and being debriefed, Itachi went home to hug Sasuke.  Itachi hugged Sasuke until his eyes started to prickle.  That was about the time Sasuke got bored of hugging Itachi and squirmed away.

“Aniki, what did you bring me?” the little boy demanded.

“Nothing.  There was…” Itachi’s words caught in his throat.  “There was nothing good on the trip.”

Sasuke nodded trustingly.  He held up a little shinobi action figure.

“Wanna play Shinobi with me?”

Itachi’s stomach swooped sickeningly.

“Not – Not right now.”  When Sasuke pouted at him cutely, Itachi gently flicked Sasuke’s forehead.  “Forgive me Sasuke.  Next time.”

Sasuke stomped off to play Shinobi with Green the Dinosaur.  Itachi went in search of their mother.

She was in the kitchen making dinner.

“Welcome back, Itachi,” she said without looking up from where she was chopping carrots into small, equally sized chunks.  “There are onigiri in the refrigerator if you’re hungry.”

“Mother,” Itachi said.  “May I have a moment?”

When his mother put down her knife and turned to him, Itachi fell against her.  He wrapped his arms around her waist and held on as tightly as he could.  Her arms closed around him – not nearly tightly enough – and her familiar scent enveloped him.  Itachi slowly relaxed.  For a few moments, everything was alright.

Itachi’s eyes started to burn again.

“Itachi, I’m glad to see you but your father will be home soon,” she said.  “He won’t approve.  You’re too old to coddle.”

Itachi’s grip tightened, his fingers digging into his mother’s soft waist.  He _wanted_ to be hugged and coddled and loved on.

“Itachi…” His mother hesitated for a long, delicate moment.  “Has anything happened?”

“I killed a man.”

“Ah.  That’s just part of being a shinobi.”

Shock then horror flooded Itachi’s veins.  He had just admitted to having done a terrible thing that no one should ever forgive.  What if that man had had little brothers and parents and a wife?  What if he had had children?  Was someone still waiting for him to come home?  Or did they already know what Itachi had done?  Was he already hated?

_Why doesn’t she care?_

“Then I don’t want to be one anymore.”

“Don’t be silly Itachi.  You’re a wonderful and talented shinobi.  The first death is always the hardest.  But I promise you, in a few months you won’t give it another thought.”

_I don’t want to get used to killing people!  I don’t want to be this person!_

His mother gave Itachi’s shoulder a little pat.

“I need to get back to work.  I promised your father that dinner would be ready when he got home.”

Itachi forced himself to relax his grip and straighten up.

His mother immediately turned back to chopping hapless vegetables.

“Mother?”

It was an effort to keep his tone cool and collected.

“Yes, Itachi?”

“My team and I are meeting up to work on our reports.  I may be out late.”

“Your father will be disappointed to have missed you.”  The rhythmic _thunk thunk thunk_ of his mother’s knife paused.  She smiled at Itachi over her shoulder.  “But he’ll be glad to hear that you’re working so hard.  Please take all of the onigiri to your team meeting.”

Itachi packed the onigiri, several blank scrolls, ink and writing utensils into a satchel.  Then he went to the dango stall.

Even before he went beyond the hanging flaps, Itachi could hear Sakura’s high, childish voice chattering to her mother.  He hesitated.  Uncertainty and need pulled through him.

Need won out.

Itachi went into the dango stall.

The familiar scents of hot tea and dango washed over him.  There were people at the counter and –

“Itachi!”

– A small, pink-haired girl raced for his legs.  Itachi leaned down for his third hug.

Sakura's small body strained upward to wrap short arms around his neck.  A sticky mouth pressed a kiss into the side of his neck… then carefully bit it.

Itachi burst into tears.

“Itachi!”  Sakura wailed.  His ear rang from it.  “Sorry!  Sorry!”

Itachi honestly tried to lean back or stop crying or _something_ but Sakura’s arms were like vices around his neck.  If he was too old for hugs, he was much too old to cry except he could not seem to _stop_ or let go of Sakura or anything.  When _she_ burst into tears too, Itachi gave up.  He wrapped his arms around Sakura’s lean shoulders and cried.

When a second set of arms curled around him and Sakura, Itachi nearly hit someone.  Except whomever those arms belonged to was hugging him and Sakura and kept hugging him and that was _exactly_ what Itachi needed.

When Itachi finally calmed down, his eyes hurt, his nose was stopped up and he was gasping for breaths through his mouth.  His face was hot and wet.  The thick strands of Sakura’s hair were sticking to it.  Sakura was still leaning against him but her grip on him had loosened considerably.  Her hot, moist breaths fanned over the place where his neck met his shoulder.  Sakura’s mother was still hugging both of them.  Over Sakura’s shoulder, Itachi could see that the stall was empty.  Someone had left money on the counter.

“Sorry,” he mumbled feeing both horribly embarrassed and infinitely better at the same time.  He was not so embarrassed as to give up his hugs, however.

“Everyone has bad days,” Mrs. Haruno said kindly.  She pressed a kiss against his temple then pressed another one against the top of Sakura’s head.  “I’ll make you some hot cocoa and you can stay for supper.”

Itachi _really_ wanted the hot cocoa and the dinner and more hugs.

“I don’t want to be a bother.”

“I’ll make you dango, too.”

“Okay.”

It was definitely a weakness.  His father had always taught him to excise his weaknesses lest they be used against him.  But Itachi was fairly certain that no enemy nin was going to stop and offer him dango and hugs in the middle of a battle so he felt that those were weaknesses that he could afford to overlook.

Itachi felt cold when Mrs. Haruno let go of him and stood up.  It was downright lonely when Sakura wriggled away from him.  But then she put her hand in his so that was closer to okay.

They went back to the counter.  Sakura drew with her new crayon set while Mrs. Haruno closed up the shop.  Itachi sat quietly and watched them.  Watching them was… not bad.

Afterwards, he walked Mrs. Haruno and Sakura home.  Their house was _tiny_.  It was just a set of rooms over a sweets shop.  Itachi let Sakura show him her room.  While Itachi played dolls with Sakura, Mrs. Haruno bustled around the other rooms.

They had dinner at a tiny kitchen table.  Itachi sat across from Mrs. Haruno while Sakura sat at the side of the table between them.  Dinner was chicken noodle soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, onigiri and hot cocoa with little marshmallows in it.  There was a pitcher of cool water too.

Sakura bit into one of Itachi’s onigiri.  She wrinkled her nose at it.

“My mom makes better ones.”

“Sakura!” her mother gasped.  “That’s impolite!  Apologize!”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”  Itachi smiled.  “My mother isn’t a very good cook.  But she tries hard.”

“That’s what really matters,” Mrs. Haruno assured him.  “You get better at things by practicing them.”

He nodded.

Itachi hesitated, carefully choosing his words.  Praise was rare in his family and Itachi was uncertain if he knew how to do it.  But, judging by how effusively Mrs. Haruno had praised Sakura's accomplishments in the past, it was appreciated in the Haruno family.

“You’re a good cook,” he said slowly and very precisely.  “If you sold food in your tea house, I’d eat meals there.”

Mrs. Haruno beamed.

“Thank you, Itachi.  That’s very kind.”

Pleasure and relief coursed through Itachi.  He had done it right!

_I should do that again.  But on a different day so that I don't mess up today's perfect record._

After dinner, Itachi (reluctantly) made his excuses. __

“Please remember that you’re always welcome here, Itachi,” said Mrs. Haruno.

Itachi nodded.

 

 

It was months before Itach went back to the Haruno Tea Shop.

He had seriously intended never to go back there ever again.  It was _not_ that he was avoiding Sakura or her mother or because he felt embarrassed over crying like a child.  He was just avoiding unhealthy foods.  There was nothing insane or cowardly about wanting to eat healthily for the rest of his life.

He definitely, positively did not miss Sakura’s green eyes or the way that she watched him or her silly happiness or her awful biting.  And he had a mother of his own, thank you very much.  He had no need of a cheerful, dango stall-owning substitute or her hugs.

There was only one minor flaw with that plan…

“Hey!  Itachi!”

Itachi obediently stopped walking and turned to wait for his former teammate.  Iruka rushed up to him.  He… looked exactly the same.  He was taller, his shoulders were broader and his face was less goofy than when they had been genin but Iruka was still Iruka.

Itachi was obscurely comforted by that.

“I looked for you at the dango stall,” Iruka said.  “Mrs. Haruno says that you haven’t been there in ages.”

“I’ve been busy,” Itachi lied.

Iruka nodded trustingly.

“That’s what I told her!  Anyway, I wanted us all to get together and go to the dango shop.”  Iruka’s smile widened.  He rocked onto his toes and then his heels.  “Guess what?  Hana got it!”

“It?” Itachi repeated blankly.

“The apprenticeship!  At the hospital!”

“Oh,” Itachi said blankly.

He dredged up his memories of Team Twelve’s introductions.  Hana had wanted to be a veterinarian.  Iruka had wanted to be a teacher so that he could look out for orphaned kids like himself.  Itachi had wanted to be a great shinobi so that Father and Mother could be proud of him.

It seemed like such a long time ago.

Itachi smiled.  He was genuinely happy for Hana.

“I’m glad that she’s achieved her dream.”

Iruka’s smile was as goofy as ever.  Itachi liked that.

“So I want Team Twelve to meet up at the Haruno Dango Shop tomorrow at nineteen hundred hours.  You’re free, right?”

“Yes.”

“Great!  See you then!”

Iruka raced off.

Itachi fully appreciated how neatly Iruka had trapped him.

 _He would be dangerous if he could do things like this on purpose,_ Itachi mused.

Itachi showed up at the dango stall thirty minutes early.

Mrs. Haruno smiled at him.

Sakura sat on his foot and twined her limbs around his calf.  She leaned her head back and grinned up at him.  Her lovely eyes sparkled with happiness.  There was no biting.

“Heya, Itachi!”

Itachi smiled down at her.

And that was it.

Itachi was suddenly ravenously hungry for dango and tea.  Unfortunately, everyone else was going to arrive later.

“I took your advice to heart,” Mrs. Haruno said.  She slid a menu across the countertop to him.  “It was very good advice, too!”

In addition to the normal teas and dangos she had always offered, there were also riceballs and miso soup on the menu.

Itachi felt his face go hot and his mouth turn up in a smile.  Embarrassment, pleasure and excitement mixed together in him into some strange, bright thing that burned… but not in a bad way.

He touched the menu with gentle fingertips.  They trembled.

Itachi blinked at his hand, surprised and bewildered by it.  His hand had never shaken before.

By the time his teammates arrived, Itachi had coaxed Sakura off of his leg and onto the stool next to him.  She was reading a book to him about a dancing little leaf.  At home, Sasuke still showed him the pictures and made up stories about them for Itachi.

Mrs. Haruno called Sakura to come help her in the kitchen, his old teammates settled around him and Itachi felt… happy.

He ate a lot more often at the Haruno Tea Shop after that.

There were never any more bites from Sakura.

Ironically, Itachi missed them.

As far as Itachi knew, he was the _only_ one she had greeted with a wide smile, a careful bite and a hug.  It had nothing to do with bloodline limits or being acknowledged as a genius shinobi or being the heir to a prestigious ninja clans.  She just… _liked him_ in her own, toothy sort of way.  He still had the faded bite scar to prove it.

Now no one got bitten.

Even though Sakura no longer bit Itachi, she often claimed the seat next to him.  While he ate, Sakura would read or color or laboriously fold napkins into orgami shapes for her mother.

Once, Itachi bought sets of jacks for Sakura and Sasuke when he was away on a mission.  The civilian that he had purchased them from promised him that children loved the game.  From watching a group of civilian children play, Itachi was fairly certain that Father would approve of it.

His brother had taken his game and gone to play with Mother.

Sakura had demanded that _Itachi_ play with her.

Itachi had stopped playing games when he was younger than Sakura.  But her green eyes were pleading and he liked it when she was happy so Itachi shrugged and said, “If you wish.”

He was excellent at snatching jacks up before the ball reached its zenith.  Sakura’s reflexes, hand-eye coordination and jack-snatching technique needed improvement.  Lots of it.  That was the only reason he agreed to so many rematches.

Sometimes Sakura sat in his lap and read her library books to him.  When that happened, Itachi would carefully wrap his arms around her waist, rest his cheek against her soft hair and enjoy her warmth and the happy cadence of her voice.  It was like a reverse hug technique.

Occasionally, when he came by later in the evening, Sakura would start out reading to him and end up falling asleep against him.  Itachi liked those times best.  Sakura was a warm, trusting weight snuggled against his chest that he could hug for as long as he wanted… or until her mother noticed and put Sakura to sleep in a cot that she kept under the counter.

It was… nice, especially since Sakura and Sasuke were the only people who touched him outside of team practices and missions.  And Sasuke had recently declared that he was ‘not a baby.’  There were fewer touches and far more childish attacks.  It was… _really_ nice to be able to touch and be touched without the potential for pain being a factor in it.

Even so, Itachi still missed those bites.  He missed being special.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>  On the day that he makes genin, Itachi sees Sakura.  It changes the course of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title:** Gallant  
>  **Fandom:** Naruto  
>  **Rating:** PG  
>  **Content Notes:** None  
>  **Disclaimer:** I have no rights or claims to the Naruto franchise, trademark, copyright, or characters. This is fun, not profit.  
>  **Summary:** On the day that he makes genin, Itachi sees Sakura. It changes the course of his life.  
>  **Additional Notes:** Written to fill [](http://edellin.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](http://edellin.dreamwidth.org/)**edellin** 's Wishlist 2011 prompt.  
>  **Definition:** Gallant - _As an adjective:_ 1\. brave, spirited, noble-minded, or chivalrous: _a gallant knight; a gallant rescue attempt._ 2\. exceptionally polite and attentive to women; courtly. 3. stately; grand: _a gallant pageant._ 4\. showy, colorful, or stylish, as in dress; magnificent. 5. amorous; amatory. _As a noun:_ 6\. a brave, noble-minded, or chivalrous man. 7. a man exceptionally attentive to women. 8. a stylish and dashing man. 9. a suitor or lover. 10. a paramour. _Verb (used as an object):_ 11\. to court or act as a lover of (a woman). 12. to escort (a woman). _Verb (used without object):_ to attend or pay court as a gallant.  
> 

Sakura was super sad when Itachi said that he had to go away to ninja school.  She cried and cried and cried.  He promised to come see her as soon as he could.  It was a Solemn Swear with pinkies and everything!  Sakura was still really sad about him having to go away for ages.

Then her Mama said something _wonderful!_

“You’re going to go to ninja school too,” her mother said softly while she and Sakura were making onigiri for the tea shop.

Joy welled up on Sakura’s heart.  She squeaked, “With Itachi?”

“…No.”

“I want to go to Super Ninja School with Itachi!”

Other ninja came to Mama’s tea shop all the time.  And most of them were really nice to her.  But Itachi was special.  For as long as Sakura could remember, she had always loved Itachi.  He came more often than anyone else.  And he brought her things from far away.  And he paid more attention to her than everyone except Mama.  And one time, he cried.  Itachi was… special to Sakura.

“Itachi’s at a different ninja school.”

“I want to go to Itachi’s ninja school!”

“I don’t know a lot about ninja schools,” her mother said carefully.  “But as I understand it, he went to your ninja school first.  Then he went to school with Hideki-sensei.  Remember that?”

Sakura thought hard.  Then she bounced, her hands cupped around a half finished onigiri.

“Yeah!  I like Hideki-sensei!”

Mama beamed.  “I do too.  If you want to catch up to Itachi, you have to do good work at your school and then with a special teacher like Hideki-sensei and then –”

“I’ll go to school with Itachi!”

“If you still want to.”

“I do!”

Sakura counted all of the days between then and school.  It was going to be so, so great and she would work really hard and catch up to Itachi in no time!  Sakura told her mama, the shop’s customers and the onigiri she made all about it.

On the first day of school, Sakura wore her favorite red dress and her pretty blue sandals.  Her mama tied a pair of Itachi’s blue ribbons into her hair.  The sandals had been dyed to match her ribbons.  Sakura skipped all the way to school and did her very best to sit still during the boring old induction ceremony.

_This is gonna be great!  I’m gonna learn stuff and make friends and be in big kid school with Itachi soon!_

 

 

School was _awful!_

Book lessons were good and sensei was really nice but the other kids were so _mean!_   They made fun of her for being smart and for being bad at taijutsu and kunai targets.  They called her Forehead Girl and laughed at her when she cried.

Eventually, Sakura started to wear dark clothes to blend in.  She put away all of her pretty ribbons from Itachi because she never wanted anyone to see her big ugly forehead ever again.

Those changes only made the other kids even more awful to her.

Sakura grew her hair out and kept her head down and avoided her classmates.  She cried every day at lunch and after school.

And then, Sakura met Ino.

Ino changed her world.

Things got better.

Ino was nice.  Ino gave her a pretty Red Ribbon of Friendship.  Ino showed her how to stand up to bullies and beat them up when they did not go away.  Ino had other, cooler friends but she wanted to be _best friends_ with Sakura.

Ino was _amazing!_

_I want to be just like Ino!_

 

 

“Mama!  Mama!” Sakura called as she swatted her way past the hanging clothes and into her mother’s stall.  “On my test I – Itachi!”

There, sitting on a stool as if he had not been gone for six whole months, was Itachi!

He was bigger and taller and _Itachi!_

Sakura leaped at him for hugs but Itachi disappeared!

Confused, Sakura turned in a slow circle to look for Itachi.  When she made a full circle, Itachi was on his stool again!

Sakura laughed and clapped.

“You’re an amazing ninja, Itachi!”

Itachi’s shoulders twitched.

When Sakura tried to hug him again, Itachi disappeared from the stool again.  This time he ended up on the other side of it.  He was still facing the countertop.  He was also out of arm’s reach.

Sakura felt the first tendrils of unease curl through her tummy.

“Itachi?”

He said nothing.

“Itachi?” Sakura asked again.

Her tummy began to ache.

“Here you go, Itachi,” Sakura’s mother said cheerfully as she put a takeout box on the countertop in front of the place where Itachi had been sitting.  “It’s been good to see you again.  Please come back again soon.”

Itachi nodded at Sakura’s mother.  He looked at her without meeting her eyes or even really looking her face.

As Itachi reached for the box, Sakura blurted, “Promise!”

The unease in Sakura’s tummy had twisted into fear.

Itachi, his fingers curled around the side of the box, hesitated.

“Promise you’ll come back soon, Itachi!”

Itachi slowly nodded.  Then he turned and left without another word.

Sakura watched the cloth hangings flap after Itachi had pushed through them.  She felt like the very air around her was heavier.  Her brain was comparing what she knew with what she had seen.

_Dark clothes… keeping his head down… not looking people in the eye… avoiding people…_

“Sakura, sometimes people change.”

Sakura shook her head.  She knew the signs.

_Someone’s bullying Itachi!_

Sakura felt _awful._   She had never forgotten about Itachi.  But with Ino and classes and practicing and all of her new friends, she had missed him a lot less.  Itachi had still been important to her but he was no longer half of her entire world.  She had stopped thinking about Itachi when he had most needed someone to think about him.

 _I’m going to get stronger and take care of Itachi,_ Sakura vowed.  _Just like how Ino protected me._

 

 

After that, Sakura picked a white camellia flower from the school gardens every day and worked harder in school.  Not in meditation or book subjects – she was already good at those – but in outside classes like taijutsu, kunai throwing and traps.  She asked for help in class and stayed after school to practice on the school equipment.  It was uncool for a kunoichi to try hard at classes like that but Itachi needed her.

Of course, that brought the bad sort of attention back onto Sakura but she had Ino so it hurt less.  Who cared what those mean girls thought of her as long as Ino was her best friend?  And Itachi _needed_ her help!

“It’s not like I’m trying to make you try less or anything,” Ino said one afternoon.  Sakura was twisting and kicking a post with her shin over and over again.  “But why the sudden interest in taijutsu?  I thought you didn’t like getting sweaty.”

“I don’t,” Sakura puffed as she switched sides and practiced kicking with her other leg.

“So why?”

“’Cause… my friend… needs my… help!” Sakura puffed between kicks.  “You… helped me… and I… wanna… help him!”

Ino frowned.

“Who’re we helping?”

“Not…in our…class.  Different… school!”

“This is the only ninja academy in the village,” Ino said.  “If he’s at different school… What kind of school could he be at?  It’s academy then jonin sensei then… Sakura!  Sakura, is your friend working at the hospital?”

Sakura shook her head.

“Apprenticeship?”

Another head shake.

“Oh no!”  Ino wailed.  “Sakura!”

Sakura stopped kicking.  She stood in front of her post, huffing.

Ino darted between Sakura and the post.  She grabbed Sakura’s sweaty shoulders and shook her.  Hard.

“Sakura!  You _can’t_ get involved with this!”

“Itachi’s… my friend!”

“Itachi!  Uchiha Itachi?”

Sakura shrugged and admitted, “I don’t know his last name.”

“It’s _got_ to be _Uchiha_ Itachi!  It’s just not that common a name!”

Ino let go of Sakura’s shoulders.  She grabbed her hair and made a horrified little noise.

“Sakura, he’s – he’s –” Ino leaned closer and lowered her voice to a furious whisper.  “ANBU!”

“I’ve no idea what that is,” Sakura admitted.  “But I’ve got to help Itachi.  He’s being bullied.”

Ino frowned.  Her hands fell from her hair to slap against her thighs.

 _“No one_ could bully Uchiha Itachi.”

“Well, someone is.  And I’m going to make them stop.”

Ino sighed.

“Sakura, trust me, you’re not going to be able to beat Itachi’s bullies up.”

“That’s why I’m getting better at traps.”

Ino shook her head.

“That’s not going to be enough.”

“So what should I do?”

Ino shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I’ll ask my daddy.”

“Thanks, Ino!”

 

 

Camellia flowers were nearly out of season when Itachi came around again.

That evening the stall was so busy that Sakura could only afford to dart quick glances at him as she boxed up orders, put them in the customers’ cloth bags and rang them up.  Itachi lurked around the edges of the crowd.  Every once in awhile he would shuffle his feet as if he was going to leave only to shuffle back to where he belonged in the line.

When he was the one standing in front of the cash register, Sakura beamed at him.

“What would you like?”

Itachi requested an order of onigiri filled with tuna and mayonnaise, an order of onigiri filled with pickled vegetables, an order of dango, and a pint of orange tea to go.

When Sakura finished boxing up Itachi’s order, she plucked the freshest camellia blossom from the tall cup next to the cash register.  Sakura taped the blossom to the top of Itachi’s box.

Itachi frowned at the flower as he paid for his order.

“Please come again, Itachi,” Sakura said sincerely as she handed him his takeout.

Every day on her way home from school, Sakura faithfully stole a fresh flower for the shop.  During the winter, snowdrops replaced the camellias in the tall cup next to the cash register.

It was winter and so cold that Sakura was wearing her coat as she worked behind the register when Itachi came back.  It was during a lull in business so Sakura hoped that Itachi would want to eat at the counter.

He ordered takeout: four orders of onigiri stuffed with umeboshi, four orders of onigiri stuffed with cod, ten orders of onigiri with seaweed in it, three quarts of miso soup, two gallons of spiced orange tea, two gallons of green tea and eight orders of dango.

 _Itachi must be going on a mission,_ Sakura thought as she grabbed several cardboard boxes, the tape and a marker from the counter.  _I wonder when he’ll be back?_

Itachi used to talk to Sakura and her mother when they were working on his meals.  Now, he sat at the counter and stared straight ahead while Sakura and her mother made his order.  Sakura made the extra riceballs necessary to fill Itachi’s order while her mother made everything else.

On the top of each box Sakura filled with onigiri, Sakura wrote things like ‘ _Please be careful!’_ and _‘Come back safely!’_ and _‘Do your best!’_ When the order was assembled, Sakura taped a snowdrop to the top of a box filled with dango. __

Itachi frowned at the flower before he sealed the entire order into a scroll.

“Please come visit us when you get back!” Sakura called after his retreating back.

Itachi raised his hand in a wave without ever turning around.

Sakura renewed her vow to work hard and help Itachi.

 

 

Sprigs of arborvitae mingled with the snowdrops in the cup beside the counter when Itachi next strode into the Haruno Tea Shop.  Sakura taped a sprig to Itachi’s order (riceballs filled with salmon caviar soaked in soy sauce and a quart of cherry tea) and he left again.

Sakura had snowflakes and crocuses in her cup the next two times Itachi came to the shop.  The first time she added a snowflake flower to his order and the second time taped a crocus to it.

The next time Itachi came in, Sakura taped a large iris to Itachi’s purchase.  It was white with a bright yellow patch at the innermost edge of each petal.  The outer edges of each petal had a thick band of royal purple lining it.

Cherry blossoms were in season when Itachi next slapped his way through the cloth hangings that separated the restaurant from the street.  He strode past the line at the till and sat on one of the stools at the counter.  Itachi glared at Sakura.

Sakura was glad to see it.  That was the most emotion Sakura had seen in Itachi in _ages._

Unfortunately, it was during the dinner rush and Sakura had no time to stand and talk to him.

“Sasuke says that he’s been getting flowers from girls at school,” Itachi said when she was behind that part of the counter.  She was deftly folding a cardboard box for an order.  “He says that the flowers have _meanings.”_

Sakura blinked, surprised.

 _Ino was right,_ Sakura thought as she tested the cardboard box she had folded.  _Itachi is Uchiha Itachi._

“They do,” Sakura admitted as she put an order of onigiri filled with spicy pollock roe in the cardboard box.  “Kunoichi do a unit on Hanakotoba every spring.  Excuse me.”

“Did the flowers you gave me have meanings behind them?” demanded Itachi when Sakura passed by again.  She was filling an order for onigiri filled with shrimp and mayonnaise.

“Yes.  They’re what I think about you.”

“What were they?”

Sakura raised a finger in a ‘wait’ gesture.  The next time she passed by Itachi, she left her Hanakotoba textbook in front of him.  She would have explained it to him but she was just too busy to stop and talk or even talk about flowers and add sums.

The next time Sakura passed Itachi, he was thumbing through the part of the book that organized flowers by color.  He had pulled a pen out of somewhere – probably his kunai holster – and jotted a list on his paper placemat.

_Camellia – white_

_Snowdrop – white_

_Arborvitae – evergreen – sprig of_

_Snowflake – white_

_Crocus – yellow_

Itachi had very neat handwriting.  As Sakura watched, Itachi stopped on the picture of a white iris.  He carefully added, _Iris – white with yellow and purple_ then _Sakura – pink_ to the list.  She hurried off as he turned to the table of meanings at the back of the book.

 _He has a very good memory,_ Sakura thought as she made another cardboard box for another order.

As the dinner rush slowed down, Sakura slowly became aware of the fact that Itachi was _staring_ at her very, very intently.

_How long has he been doing that?  Do I have something on my face?_

The next customer she helped swore that Sakura’s face was clean and very pretty.

Sakura blushed.

_So why’s Itachi staring at me?_

When Sakura could finally go over and visit with Itachi, she brought two orders of dango and two cups of spiced orange tea.  She wrestled a stool up to the counter.

When she was settled, Itachi slid his placemat over to her and picked up a skewer of dango.  He nibbled on the top dango while Sakura read the list.

_Camellia – white – Waiting_

_Snowdrop – white – Consolation or hope_

_Arborvitae – evergreen – sprig of – Everlasting friendship_

_Snowflake – white – Hope_

_Crocus – yellow – Cheerfulness, abuse not, gladness_

_Iris – white with yellow and purple – Your friendship means so much to me, faith, hope, wisdom and valor, my compliments_

_Sakura – pink – Kind, gentle, transience of life_

Sakura nodded and pushed the list back to him.

“I’ve missed you,” she told him.  “Even when you came back, you’ve been gone.”

Itachi looked pained.

The dango were gone from his stick.  As Sakura watched, he took a long drink of his tea.  She admired the delicate lines of his throat and the way his adam’s apple moved as he swallowed.

_Itachi’s prettier than nearly anyone._

“Sakura… It’s complicated.”

Sakura nodded knowingly.

“Because ANBU is bullying you.”

Itachi paled.  He looked shocked then sickened then… frightened.

His hand darted across the counter to grip her wrist tightly.  It _hurt!_

“Who told you that?” he demanded urgently.

“I figured it out!”

She tried to twist her wrist out of his grip.  Itachi obviously knew the counter because he shifted his grip and Sakura was just as firmly gripped as before.

“Itachi, you’re hurting me,” Sakura whined.

Itachi’s grip immediately slackened.

“How?”

Sakura squirmed.  Everyone at school already knew but this was different.  This was _Itachi._   He and her mom were the last people Sakura wanted to know that she had had problems at school.

Itachi frowned at her.  He gave her wrist a little shake.

“Sakura!  This is important!  How?”

His tone was sharp enough to cut and so angry!

Sakura’s eyes teared up.  She lowered her gaze to the counter top.

“At the beginning of the year… When you were away… Some of the other kids bullied me,” she told the wood grain.  Itachi’s fingers tightened around her wrist again.  His grip was tight without being painful.  It was more… comforting.  “It was awful and I hated school and I… changed.  I tried to hide.  And I cried all the time.”

His thumb gently stroked the skin on the inside of Sakura’s wrist.  It felt surprisingly nice.

“Are they still bullying you?”

The concern in Itachi’s voice made Sakura cry harder.  She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“I met Ino.  Ino saved me and made everything better.”  Sakura sniffled.  “When you came back that first time from super secret ANBU camp and I saw you, I _knew_ that someone was bullying you.  And I thought – I thought maybe I could save you the way Ino saved me.”

_“Oh Sakura.”_

He pressed a paper napkin into her other hand.

“Sorry, sorry,” Sakura mumbled as she scrubbed at her face with the napkin.  “I’m such a crybaby.  Ino says so all the time.”

Ino never made it sound like a bad thing, just a Sakura-thing.  That was one of the reasons Sakura loved her.

“I like it,” Itachi told her.  “I wasn’t allowed to cry.”

Sakura blinked.

“At ANBU School?”

Itachi shook his head.

“Before that.  My parents… are very hard people.”

Sakura tried to imagine her mother telling her that she was no longer allowed to cry.  She tried to imagine how her mother would make her stop crying.

Sakura could not imagine it.

Sakura turned her wrist in Itachi’s grip.  She wrapped her fingers as far around his wrist as they could go and gave him a gentle squeeze.

They sipped tea and ate dango in silence.  Sakura watched Itachi as they ate.  It had been a long time since he had been so close to her.  He looked a little older and a lot sadder.  The lines under his eyes were longer and deeper.  And the shadows looked funny in his mouth like they were stuck to the back of his tongue or something.

“How did you figure out about the other thing?”

“Other thing?”

Itachi’s voice dropped to a murmur.

“ANBU.”

_Am I supposed to whisper that word?_

“Ino told me that the only ninja schools after jonin sensei are that, at the hospital and apprenticeships,” Sakura said.  “And I knew you weren’t at the hospital and didn’t have an apprenticeship.”

“Sakura, you can’t tell anyone else about that.  Ever.  It could get me killed.”

Frightened, Sakura nodded frantically.

“I won’t tell!  I promise!”

Itachi gave her wrist another little squeeze.

“I’ll trust you,” he said softly.

Sakura nodded.  “You can!”

Itachi smiled at her.  It was small but sincere and very fond.

It was first time that Sakura had seen Itachi smile since he had come back from ANBU School.

Sakura treasured it.

“Tell me about school,” Itachi said.

So Sakura told him all about classes and Ino and her other friends and what Ino thought of the popular girls even though Ino _was_ popular and this blond kid who kept staring and making weird faces at her.  He was a year ahead of her in the academy and his name was Minato or Kabuto or something like that.

Itachi nodded and asked questions and seemed to really pay attention to her for the first time since he had gone away.

When Itachi said that it was time for him to go home for dinner, Sakura bounced off of her stool.

“A hug before you go!”

Itachi stiffened.  When Sakura got closer to him, he caught her shoulders and held her back.  Bewildered and hurt, Sakura stared up at him.

“I’m sorry.”  Itachi’s expression was hurt and frustrated.  “I can’t.  Not anymore.”

Sakura’s heart squeezed and twisted in her chest.  The hurt from before was nothing compared to hurt she felt for Itachi.

_To get bullied so much that you’re afraid of hugs is awful!  Someday, I’m going to save you, Itachi.  You just wait and see!_

Sakura nodded.

“It’s okay,” she lied.  “Here, let me get your flowers.”

When Itachi left, he had a folded list of flowers in his pocket and a sprig of sakura blossoms in his hand.

 

 

Itachi missed Valentine’s Day.  But when he came around two days afterwards, Sakura was ready with a little box of homemade chocolates.

Itachi stared at the box of chocolates like he was confused by it.

“It’s for Valentine’s Day,” Sakura told him.

Itachi stiffened.  He looked horrified.

“I learned about it at school this year,” Sakura tried again.

_Itachi’s been through the academy.  He probably already knows all about Valentine’s Day and White Day._

Itachi looked at the misshapen pieces of homemade chocolates like they were going to get up and eat him alive.

_Maybe he doesn’t know about Valentine’s Day?_

“Girls give chocolates to their important people.”  When Itachi transferred his horrified look from the chocolates to Sakura, she started fidgeting with the long red ribbon in her hair.  Ino had given it to her.  “I gave chocolates to my Mom and Ino and Choji and Shikamaru.”

Itachi relaxed.

 _Sometimes he’s very weird,_ Sakura decided.

“Thank you,” he said.  “I’m very happy to have your chocolates.”

Sakura watched Itachi put a piece into his mouth.

“Well?”  Sakura asked anxiously.  “How is it?”

His face turned a very pretty shade of green.  It was only a couple of shades lighter than her eyes.

“Wonderful.”

Sakura beamed.  She bounced on her toes.

“I’m so glad!  I thought there might be something wrong with my chocolates ‘cause Choji wouldn’t eat his and Shikamaru said they were awful.  Then Ino hit them and they ate their chocolate and said it was delicious.”

“It is,” Itachi said.  There was a strange little hitch in his voice.  “Very delicious.”

“I’m so glad!” Sakura squeaked as she tried to hug Itachi.

He slipped out of her reach.

“Sorry.”

He sounded embarrassed.

“It’s okay,” Sakura hurried to say.  She put her hands behind her back.  “I forgot.  Sorry.”

He hunched his shoulders.

“It’s fine.  It’s not your fault.”

Sakura frowned because the way he said it made it sound like maybe he thought it was _his_ fault.

Her hands tightened into fists behind her back.

Itachi ate all of his chocolates and washed them down with tea, riceballs and dango.  He left with a yellow celandine and the assurance that it meant _‘joys to come.’_

 

 

Itachi came back a couple of weeks later.  When he decided to eat at the counter, Sakura plucked a Lily of the Valley out of her cup and laid it alongside his bowl of miso soup and plate of onigiri stuffed with seaweed.

Itachi arched an eyebrow at her.

“It means _sweet,_ ” Sakura told him.

Itachi ducked his head and fiddled with his napkin.

“I brought you something,” he said.  When he looked up, a small package appeared on the counter.  “I’ll probably be out of town on White Day but open it then.”

Sakura nodded and smiled.

“Thank you!  I will!”

He left a list of supplies he wanted to purchase from her mother and a date that he would come by to pick them up.  He took his lily with him when he left.

When he came back for his supplies a few days later, Sakura was in school.  Her mother assured Sakura that he had taken one of the peonies from the cup next to the register before he left.

“You know, it’s a sweet game you play together,” her mother said.  “Lately, I’ve been thinking about having a few vases of flowers on the counter.  Maybe they could be arranged flowers.”

“Ino and I could do it!”  Sakura immediately volunteered.  “We got the best marks in our flower arranging classes!”

Her mother’s smile widened.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Itachi missed White Day.

Inside of the little gift box were tiny packets of caltrops.

Sakura stared.

“I think I would’ve preferred ribbons,” she told the stuffed tiger on her bed.  It was worn around the edges and patched in places but still a very much a tiger.  “Not that I’ll ever tell Itachi that.”

 

 

The next time Itachi came around, it was Sakura’s eighth birthday.

“I was very brave,” he told her as he plonked a _very_ heavy package onto the counter.  It was wrapped in pink paper.  Sakura thought it was very pretty.  She hoped that whomever it was for would like it.

Sakura beamed at his reference to the peony.

“I knew you would be,” Sakura assured him.  “That’s why I left it for you!”

He smiled.  It was shy but there was an edge of anticipation to it.  Itachi made a quick, darting hand gesture to the package.

“Open it.  It’s for you.”

“Me?”  Sakura clapped her hands and bounced on her toes.  “Itachi, it’s _beautiful!”_

Sakura savagely tore the paper to shreds.  Inside of it were the first three volumes of _6,000 Flowers, Trees, Herbs and Fungi of Fire Country: Visuals, Meanings, and Uses_.

It was the nicest gift _anyone_ had ever given Sakura.

“Itachi!  Itachi they’re wonderful!”  Sakura yelped.  She hugged one of the thick volumes to her chest.  “They’re perfect and wonderful and _I love them so much!”_

Itachi smiled at her.  It was just like his old smiles.  His eyes were very soft.

Sakura hopped so close to the counter that the curve of her tummy brushed against the edge of the counter on the ups and downs of her hops.

Itachi shied backwards a step.

 _“Thank you so much!_   I love them and I’ll memorize everything in them and they’re _the best gift ever!”_

Sakura put down the book that she was holding and thrust the second volume at a nearby patron.

“Look!  See what Itachi got me?  Isn’t it lovely!”

“Oh yes,” the elderly lady said.  “Very… scholarly.”

“What’s all the hopping and yelping about?” asked Mama as she came out of the kitchen.  When she saw the books, she put a hand over her heart.  “Oh, Itachi!  It’s too much.  Sakura can’t accept those.”

Sakura whirled around.  She clutched the book in her arms to her chest.

“But Mama, I lo –”

“No!”  Mama’s voice had that horrible _‘I mean it’_ tone to it.  “It’s too much.”

Itachi shrugged.

“It’s not a lot for me.”

“Itachi –”

“I make a lot of money,” Itachi said.  _“A lot._   And I don’t have a lot to spend it on.”

“That’s very sweet, Itachi but really we can’t –”

“Her happiness… makes me very happy.”

Sakura’s mother softened.

“Just this once,” she allowed before moving to take an order.

Sakura and Itachi looked through her new books while he ate.  When Sakura presented a sprig of bluebells to him, the books assured Itachi that the flowers were supposed to help prevent nightmares.

 _“Thank you,”_ Itachi said.  He sounded terribly sincere.  “These are just what I need.”

 

 

It was a Sunday morning and Sakura was busy wishing that Kiba would die in a fire.  And she sincerely hoped that it hurt.

Sakura was sitting on the customer’s side of her mother’s restaurant.  She was trying to brush her hair and she had been trying to do so for the last fifteen minutes.  The problem was that she could not raise her hands above her shoulders thanks to stupid Kiba.  Sadly, all of her hair was above her shoulders.

“Need help?” asked Itachi.

Sakura spun on her stool.  She beamed, her hands fluttering toward her hair and away again.

“I just – I can’t reach,” Sakura admitted.  “Stupid Kiba kicked me in my arms a bunch of times yesterday and now they’re sore.”

Itachi hummed and took the brush handle from her hand.  He made a little twirling gesture with one forefinger.

Sakura obediently turned her back to him.

His first few strokes were too gentle and the next few were too hard.  Itachi soon settled into a rhythm of strokes that had Sakura practically melting in her seat.

 _They’re just so… and so… Ahhhh,_ Sakura made a little happy noise.  _Perfect._

Eventually it occurred to Sakura that the strokes to her hair had stopped.  More importantly, she was leaning back against Itachi’s chest _and he was letting her._

Sakura stiffened.

Itachi made a small, unhappy noise and stepped back.

Sakura nearly slipped backwards off of her chair.  One moment she was squawking and flailing.  The next, Itachi was helpfully shoving her back onto her stool.

“Thanks!”

“It was my pleasure.”

Sakura wondered if he was talking about the hair brushing or the shove to safety.

She shrugged her shoulders restless and hopped off of her stool.

“I’ll get your chilled green tea,” she promised him brightly.

“And dango!”

Itachi’s snack came with a lavender bloom.

 

The next morning Sakura’s arms were even more stiff and sore and her hairbrush was missing.

She was in the middle of laboriously tearing her room apart when there was a _tap, tap, tap_ on her bedroom window.  Curious, Sakura wrenched her curtains away from the glass.

There, sitting in the tree across from her window, was Itachi!

He saluted her with her hairbrush.

Sakura scrambled across her bedroom.  She clumsily unlocked her window and slammed the sill up.  Given the current state of her arms, the sill went up only about a third of the way.

“Hi!”

“I found this.”

“Thanks!”  Sakura held out her hand.  “Can I have it back?”

Itachi toyed with the brush for a moment.  His long fingers skipped between the bristles, skimming over some and tugging on others.

“May I brush your hair, Sakura?”

His tone was oddly formal.

Sakura hesitated, torn between _really_ wanting Itachi to use his magical brushing technique on her scalp and not wanting to be late to school.  Sensei yelled really loudly at latecomers.

“I can’t be late.”

Itachi nodded.

“You won’t be,” he promised.

Sakura moved back, Itachi pulled the window sill up the rest of the way and a split second later, Itachi was in Sakura’s bedroom.  His shoulders were stiff and he was viciously tugging on one of the bristles.  Sakura immediately turned her back to Itachi.

There was a second where Sakura felt alone and vulnerable then Itachi was brushing her hair.  And it was as _wonderful_ as she remembered it being!  No, it was _even better!_

Sakura made a happy little noise and swayed on her feet.

Somehow she ended up leaning against Itachi.  And he let her.

It was an excellent ending to a fantastic morning activity.

“You’re going to be late if you don’t leave soon,” Itachi said.

Sakura made a grumbling noise but stood up on her own two feet again.

Then she saw the time on her bedside clock.

“Eeek!”  Sakura raced for her bedroom door.  Her bare feet slapped against the hardwood floor.  “See you tomorrow, Itachi!”

Sakura was two minutes late.  She got yelled at.  There were surprise quizzes in math, geography and tactics classes.  Hinata beat her down in taijutsu class and Ino vomited on Sakura at lunch.

Sakura had an awesome day anyway.

 

 

Itachi was sitting at Sakura’s desk when Sakura came out of the bathroom the next morning.  He was ten minutes earlier than the day before.

“I’m sorry you were late,” he said as soon as she was in the room.  “I misjudged your speed and I made you late and –”

“It’s fine,” Sakura said quickly.  She had never wished to be a faster runner until that very moment.

“You had a _really_ bad day yesterday.”  At Sakura’s confused look, he added, “Sasuke told me some of it.”

“It wasn’t _that_ bad.  It had a good start,” Sakura told him.  She nodded at the brush on her desk.  “Brush my hair?”

Itachi’s smile lit up his face.  It made his face softer and younger and so much more beautiful.  Sakura’s breath caught in her throat.  Her heart squeezed so sweetly.

_I want him to smile like that always._

He nodded.

“Yes, please.”


	3.  Gallant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

>  On the day that he makes genin, Itachi sees Sakura.  It changes the course of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Title:** Gallant  
>  **Fandom:** Naruto  
>  **Rating:** PG  
>  **Content Notes:** Non-consensual mind melding.  
>  **Disclaimer:** I have no rights or claims to the Naruto franchise, trademark, copyright, or characters. This is fun, not profit.  
>  **Summary:** On the day that he makes genin, Itachi sees Sakura. It changes the course of his life.  
>  **Additional Notes:** Written to fill [](http://edellin.dreamwidth.org/profile)[](http://edellin.dreamwidth.org/)**edellin** 's Wishlist 2011 prompt.  
>  **Definition:** Gallant - _As an adjective:_ 1\. brave, spirited, noble-minded, or chivalrous: _a gallant knight; a gallant rescue attempt._ 2\. exceptionally polite and attentive to women; courtly. 3. stately; grand: _a gallant pageant._ 4\. showy, colorful, or stylish, as in dress; magnificent. 5. amorous; amatory. _As a noun:_ 6\. a brave, noble-minded, or chivalrous man. 7. a man exceptionally attentive to women. 8. a stylish and dashing man. 9. a suitor or lover. 10. a paramour. _Verb (used as an object):_ 11\. to court or act as a lover of (a woman). 12. to escort (a woman). _Verb (used without object):_ to attend or pay court as a gallant.

“Itachi, your father and I couldn’t help but notice that you’re spending inordinate amounts of time outside of the clan ghetto,” Mother began.  “And we’re worried about you.”

“I have practices and team obligations.” The half-truths rolled easily out of Itachi’s mouth.  “And missions, of course.”

“You're not our only agent within ANBU,” Father said.  “Your obligations are not that time consuming.”

Itachi tensed.

_Who else?  Does Hokage-sama or the Council know?  How closely are they watching me?  Do they know about Sakura?_

That last question made Itachi’s heart give a painful thump.  His stomach twisted.

Sakura was… precious.  She needed to be hidden and protected from nearly everyone that Itachi knew.

“Itachi, we just want to understand,” Mother coaxed.  Her eyes were large and limpid.  As a child, Itachi had believed in his mother’s eyes.  But age brought wisdom.  Of his parents, his mother was the more dangerous one.  Father could be blinded or distracted by his emotions.  Mother was implacable.  “Please, help us to understand what you’re doing.”

“There’s nothing to understand.  Where’s Sasuke?”

“On the dock, practicing his Great Fireball technique,” Father said.  “And you’re up to something.  Everyone in the clan has noticed.”

Itachi hesitated.  His emotions teetered between being appalled and horrified before he pushed them away the way that Root had taught him to.

_I’m going to have to give them something otherwise they’ll look closer.  Sakura or Root?_

Itachi rubbed his tongue against the roof of his mouth.  Danzo’s seal felt like a scar on his tongue.  Its edges rubbed roughly against the bony contours on the roof of Itachi’s mouth.

His hands tightened into fists.  They were safely hidden from his parents’ view by the dining room’s tabletop and the lack of Byakugan in the room.  It was still a shameful tell.

“I have… met a girl,” Itachi said carefully.

Surprise widened his mother’s eyes and tightened his father’s features.

“Through your work?” Mother asked delicately.

“She attends the academy.”

The silence that met that announcement was not kind.  Itachi filled it with a somewhat obscure statement of fact.

“She is working hard toward her graduation.”

“When is it?” demanded Father.

“It is likely that she will graduate at the average age.”

His parents looked horrified.

“Why?” asked Mother.

“It is not a failing to graduate at the appropriate age,” Itachi rebuked.

Sasuke would graduate at twelve if Itachi had anything to do with it.

“It’s nothing to be proud of either,” Father snapped.

“Is it serious?” asked Mother.

_Deadly._

Itachi shrugged.

“You don’t know?” Mother persisted.

“We’re very young.”

“At your age, your mother had already asked for me,” Father said.

“I have never considered marriage to anyone.”

_Why would I want to be shackled to anyone for a lifetime?_

Green eyes, happiness, warmth, gentle touches and sharp little bites tangled together in his mind.

_To be special to someone for myself rather than my abilities... Perhaps a lifetime would not be unendurable._

“Describe her to us,” Mother said.  The lilt in her voice made it sound like she was begging a favor.  The steel behind her soft eyes said otherwise.

“She is as intelligent as any Nara and shares the Akimichi clan’s interest in cooking.  She is as knowledgeable about plants as any Yamanaka.  And her eyes are… _exquisite.”_

His parents shared significant looks with each other.

When Itachi had awakened his sharingan at the age of seven, his clan’s members had all agreed that _his_ eyes were exquisite.

Itachi preferred Sakura’s eyes to any doujutsu-bearing eyes that he had ever seen.  They were _green_.  And they never had any secrets within them.  And they lit up when they looked at him.

“But she is not an Uchiha?” his mother asked carefully.

“No.”

It was tantamount to admitting to being interested in a Hyuuga or Yamanaka or Yuuhi or a member of any one of the lesser doujutsu-bearing clans.

“If she’s so obviously superior, why is she graduating so late?” demanded his father.

Itachi’s lips thinned.

“Her stamina is low and her chakra supply is average.”

More meaningful looks were exchanged.

Itachi’s hands unclenched.  They stung as the blood rushed through their joints.  He was mostly certain that the girl they searched for would not be Sakura.

“We will… think on this,” Mother said at last.  “Do not do anything foolish.”

Itachi inclined his head.

“As you wish.”

 

 

About two weeks before Itachi’s fourteenth birthday, Itachi ran into Shisui.  They had not spent much time together after Lord Danzo rejected Shisui for ANBU.  Shisui had joined the police force after that.

Itachi knew for a fact that Shisui had the same seal at the back of his tongue.

Shisui’s skin was grey, his hair was wilder than usual and his hands were shaking.  His fingers kept twitching and his shoulders were hunched as if he was fighting not to curl around a wound.  He looked terrible.

That was the only reason that Itachi suggested they go to the Haruno Tea Shop.  He wanted Shisui to look… better.  Less stressed.  Of his entire clan, the only one who was closer to Itachi’s heart than Shisui was Sasuke.  Itachi always felt better after visiting the teahouse.

As soon as he said it, Itachi wanted to take it back.  Sakura was _his_ precious secret.  She was a secret that he had kept even from Sasuke.  One that he never wanted to share with anyone, not even Shisui.

Taking back his suggestion would only make Shisui suspicious.

Itachi timed it so that they arrived during the breakfast rush.  When he and Shisui sat at the counter, Sakura barely had time to toss him a quick smile between customers.  Itachi was pleased by Sakura’s retrained acknowledgement.  Shisui seemed pleased by the crowd.  It would obscure their presence and conversation from spies.

They watched as Sakura scampered up and down the length of the counter, refilling glasses and taking orders in between boxing takeout and ringing up sales.

 _They really need to start having two servers on the weekends,_ Itachi thought.  _Or learn kage bunshin.  It’s getting to be too much work for two people._

After Sakura took their orders, Shisui blurted, “I have Mangekyo.”

Shock numbed Itachi’s fingers and stilled his thoughts.

“How?”

Shisui hot him a look that implied he suspected Itachi of deliberately being dense.  They both knew the theory behind acquiring Mangekyo sharingan.

“The details,” Itachi impatiently elaborated.

“Lord Danzo asked me about the Uchiha Clan.  I told him… everything.  He was interested in the Mangekyo and he seemed… disappointed.”  Shisui made a harsh noise at the back of his throat.  It was the ugly product of a bark of laughter and a sob.  “He _was_ disappointed.  He wanted to see these eyes.  Do you remember ANBU Cat?”

Itachi had a terrible feeling about the abrupt change in topic.  He did not want to hear confessions about murdered secrets while sitting less than three feet from _his_ secret.  She was frowning as she boxed up an order of onigiri.

“Yes.”

“Her name was Rika.  Just Rika.  She was raised in Root.  And I loved her.”

Itachi’s stomach twisted.

“I didn’t know.”

“No one did.  Except Lord Danzo.  After I told him about Mangekyo, he'd watched me.  He discovered our _secret.”_

The horrible feeling in Itachi’s stomach spread to his chest.

“He ordered me to do it,” Shisui pleaded.  He grabbed Itachi’s forearm in a bruising grip and stared into Itachi with wide, whirling eyes.  Horror and repugnance wrenched through Itachi at the sight of his cousin’s pinwheeling sharingan.  They looked like spinning shuriken against seas of blood.  “He said that it was to protect the village.  _The village,_ Itachi.  I had to do it.”

Itachi was relieved when Sakura moved to ring up the boxed order at the cash register.  He wanted her nowhere near Mangekyo.

Itachi jerked his head up and down in a quick nod.

“I understand.”

Itachi honestly did.

_Would I be able to kill her for the village’s sake?  Sasuke?  Shisui?_

Shisui’s grip on Itachi’s arm relaxed.

“You do.”  He sounded relieved.  As Itachi watched, Shisui’s eyes reformed themselves into the three regular tomae of the sharingan.  It was a relief.  “I had to do it.”

“You did.”

The silence between them was heavy but Itachi was grateful for it.  Sakura delivered their lunches during it.  The plates and cups softly thumped against the countertop.  She left a large pink flower next to Itachi’s plate.  It had dark pink stamen and darker pink, blade-shaped spots on some of the petals.

Itachi smoothed the pad of his forefinger against one of the flower’s petals.  It was nearly as soft as Sakura’s palms.

_I wonder what it is?  What it means?_

Despite everything, Itachi felt curiosity and pleasure thrum through him.  He _loved_ Sakura’s silly flowers.  He always had.  They were bright and happy and gifts that she had picked out especially for him.  He had been aggrieved to discover that he had been allowing secret messages to wither, die and be thrown away.

That was when Itachi had started keeping pressed flowers in Iruka’s apartment.

In the present, Shisui smirked as Sakura hurried back to pick up the big bowls on the pass through from the kitchen.  Nearly every Uchiha had a fan club at some point or another.

Itachi pretended not to see it.

They ate the bulk of their meal in silence.  To Itachi, it tasted like sawdust.

Shisui left his hand on Itachi’s arm.  Itachi thought he understood that too.  Sometimes, people just needed to touch and be touched without pain factoring into it.

Sakura’s mother came forward from the kitchen to work the cash register and fill the orders while Sakura moved further down the counter – and closer to Itachi.  She pulled out ingredients from various places then started putting together perfectly triangular onigiri with quick, practiced movements.  The little frown marring her forehead betrayed her concentration.

“These eyes…”  Shisui said suddenly.  His hand tightened on Itachi’s arm.  “I haven’t used them very much but I can tell that their genjutsu techniques are very powerful.  They can influence others’ thoughts without them ever knowing that they’re being controlled.  They’ll be highly sought after by both sides of the uprising.  Tonight, I’m to give one to Lord Danzo.  Afterwards, I want to – I _will_ leave the other to you.  You’ll need it to do your part.  And then, you’re going to kill me.”

_“Kill you?”_

The masticated sawdust in Itachi’s stomach flopped and roiled alarmingly.

_I thought – I assumed that since Shisui was in Root too that I would – that I **wouldn’t** –_

“As long as I’m alive, they’ll grow back.”  Shisui’s eyes twisted themselves into whirling shuriken.  “Itachi, you understand that to be a shinobi is to sacrifice yourself for the village’s welfare.  A true shinobi protects the village from within its own shadow.  Long ago, I decided that I would gladly sacrifice my eyes and my life for the village’s safety.  And now my own eyes are the danger to the village.  It won’t put my name on the Memorial Stone but allow me to protect this village this one last time anyway.”

His throat tight, Itachi nodded.

When they paid and left, Itachi ‘forgot’ his flower.

Someone who was going to kill his best friend and assassinate his clan would never deserve flowers.

 

 

Yamanaka Inoichi was waiting where Itachi had arranged to meet Shisui.  The bend in the river near the shrine was an out of the way location and that man was no idiot.  There was no point in trying to lie.

Itachi stepped onto the riverbank.

“The Hokage has ordered the splinter group that refers to itself as Root to be taken into custody pending an investigation into the group’s alleged leader’s activities.  Danzo and most of your comrades are already in custody.”

Itachi pretended not to notice the shadow that attached itself to his shadow.  Where there was a Yamanaka, there was always a Nara and an Akimichi.  If you could only see one, the odds were unreasonably high that the other two were sneaking up on you.

“I will obey my Hokage,” Itachi said.

Inoichi nodded.  “I thought you might say that.”

Itachi could detect nothing but sincerity in the words.

Rather than drawing attention to Shisui, Itachi moved to walk back towards the village and, presumably, an ANBU holding cell.  The Nara in the bushes was kind enough to allow him the illusion of autonomy.  Inoichi moved to walk at Itachi’s side.  Presumably, his teammates were following at a discreet distance.

“Why is Root being arrested?”

“Unauthorized assassinations.  Seditious activities.”

“We would never betray Konohagakure!” Itachi immediately protested.

Indigantion burned hotly in him.

“Danzo already has,” Inoichi said bluntly.

“Lord Danzo would never!  He places Konohagakure above all else!”

The Yamanaka hummed as if Itachi had just said something interesting.  Uncertain of what he had given away, Itachi walked the rest of the way in silence.

 

 

ANBU’s holding cells were crowded.  Cells that were meant to house single prisoners had quadruple that number locked inside of them.  Cells meant to hold two prisoners held between eight and ten captives.  Between overcrowding and the shared bucket in the corner of each cell, the holding cells were hellish.

Every Root member as well as every Uchiha nearing graduation from the academy and up had been detained.  Itachi understood how they had known who all of the potentially pertinent Uchiha were – there were clan and village registries to consult – but he was mystified as to how they had known to look for Root’s tongue seal.  He wondered why the village had decided to restrain the Uchiha rather than following the original plan.

ANBU lacked the sheer number of chakra inhibitors necessary to detain all of its prisoners.  Instead, the inhibitors were seemingly doled out to the highest risk prisoners while those who were deemed lesser risks had fuinjutsu inked onto their skin by practitioners then sunk below their epidermis by medic nin.  It reminded Itachi uncomfortably of the Caged Bird Seal employed by the Hyuga.

Itachi himself had a chakra disruptor clasped around his wrist as did his cell mate Yamanaka Fu.  His other six cellmates had the inked on chakra disruptors.

Apparently no one was above suspicion and retention in Yamanaka Inoichi’s eyes.

Itachi approved.

 _Whoever chose to put him in charge of this operation chose well,_ Itachi mused as he watched his cellmates pace and occasionally mutter imprecations against the Yamanaka clan head.  _He thought to clean his own house before moving his efforts outwards._

There was no doubt in Itachi’s mind that had Fu been overlooked he would have done his best to hinder and sabotage Inoichi’s efforts.  Fu’s first loyalty was to Danzo rather than the village.  From Itachi’s observations of the movements outside of his own cell, it was an alarming trend within Root.

At first Itachi was content to observe but as the hours and days dragged on he began to worry.

Had Sasuke slept through Mother and Father’s detainment?  If he did, had he woken up to an empty house?  If he did not, what had they done with Sasuke?  Where was he now?  Who would feed and clothe and care for his brother – for all of the clan’s children, really – if all of the Uchiha adults were imprisoned?  Would they go to school?  Would they be shunned for their elders’ actions?

Would Sasuke miss him?

Would Sakura notice that he was missing?

Would she miss him?

Itachi only felt relief when he was escorted into an interrogation room by a Nara and Akimichi duo.

Inoichi was waiting for him there as was Nara Shikaku and Ibiki.  As Itachi allowed himself to be shoved into the seat across from the three men, he wondered where their Akimichi partner was lying in wait.  In his current state, activating his sharingan to find him would be impossible.

Itachi lowered his head.  He traced the dark wood grain with his eyes.  He knew what was going to happen to him – had known since the very beginning what would eventually happen – but now that it was upon him, Itachi’s relief and acceptance melted away.  There was only rising terror and suffocating sense of panic.  His heart thumped against his breastbone and pounded in his throat and his breathing sped up.

Itachi savagely shoved those irrational, automatic responses down.  He was not a child.  He had been trained better than this.  _He_ was better than this.

He was still really, really frightened.  At least it was slightly less obvious.  He _hoped_ it was less obvious, at any rate.

The two who had brought him left, the metal door clanging against the stone doorjamb in their wake.  The dull sound rang through the room, startling Itachi.  That small, involuntary jerk was enough of an opening for Inoichi.

It was like being hit between the eyes by a battering ram.  Itachi’s skull cracked open and then Inoichi was _inside of him_.

Itachi groaned and hunched over.  The heels of his palms pressed against his eyes as he tried to stop the violation.  But Inoichi was already inside of Itachi’s mind and hiding his eyes was far too little far too late.

His mind was suddenly forced to accommodate two people where there was only supposed to be one.  Knowing what would happen, being resigned to it, having nothing to hide or protect save two people who had nothing to do with Root or the uprising, was not enough, could never be enough to make this okay.  Itachi could literally feel Inoichi flipping through his memories the way Itachi would flip through a picture book left out on someone’s coffee table, except Itachi had not left his brain out to be cracked open and perused by a relative stranger.

Inoichi was unwelcome.

Inoichi was everywhere, digging into _Itachi_ – into everything that made Itachi into Itachi and no one else – and overlaying it with himself.  It felt like the placid lake of his mind had suddenly been overlaid by a thick layer of pond scum.

Inoichi was a vicious, viral pond scum that twisted and pulled and clawed its way into Itachi.  He aggressive forced himself deeper and deeper into the lake’s waters, into Itachi.  And the further down Itachi hid his secrets – he only had _two!_  Sasuke and Sakura had nothing to do with the uprising or Root or Danzo or the village at all – the deeper Inoichi dug into him.

Why did Inoichi want them?  He had everything else!  He couldn’t have them!  There were greasy fingerprints smeared across all of Itachi’s mind and memories, thoughts and impressions and feelings.  Only these two precious connections were pristine, untouched by Inoichi who wanted to pry them wide and evaluate them as had he had done to everything else in Itachi.

Inoichi hesitated.

For one glowing, glorious moment Itachi marshaled his strength to _push back_ and force Inoichi _out_.

_It was Sakura who warned me about you, Shisui, Danzo, the uprising._

Shock paralyzed Itachi.  Feelings of betrayal shattered his will to fight back.  Itachi’s strength dissipated.  He lay still and defeated within his own mind as Inoichi touched, pried open and peered into places that no one else had ever known existed.  Then he displayed all of Itachi on the wall behind him so that the others could see him, know him, have the keys to everything that was Uchiha Itachi.

Afterwards, it was a relief when his mind could assume its proper dimensions.  But he hurt _everywhere._

Uncaring hands roughly dragged him down stone corridors and up rough hewn passages.  Itachi was still in their hands and uncaring.  He fell where he landed and he stayed as he was arranged.  And in his mind, Itachi drowned in a scummy pond.

 

 

Other hands, trying to take his clothes away, roused Itachi.

His lips pulled back from his teeth in a silent snarl, Itachi broke the nearest hand.  He was out of bed and in a defensible corner a heartbeat later.  The chakra inhibitor was heavy around his wrist but his taijutsu was still peerless.

The medic, his cry of pain still lingering in the air between them, stumbled back a step.  He cradled his broken hand in his other, glowing hand.

“The bathroom is over there,” the medic said tightly with a nod at the appropriate door.  “A change of clothing is on your bedside table.”

So were a steaming basin of water, clean towels and washcloths and a small bottle of generic soap.

Itachi scowled at this new attempt to invade his privacy.

He took everything but the basin into the bathroom with him.

The water was hot when Itachi got into the shower but he made it hotter.  He scrubbed every inch of himself until he was pink and raw everywhere.  Underneath the marks left by his scrubbing, Itachi could still feel the marks left by Inoichi.

Itachi positioned himself under the spray.  He could wait.  He _would_ wait to feel better.

 

 

The water was ice cold needles against his flesh, his finger and toe nails were purple and he was shivering so hard that his teeth were chattering when someone knocked on the door _again._

 _Why can’t they understand that I’ll get out when I’m done?_   Itachi thought irritably.  _I don’t need more towels or to hear how long I’ve been in._

“Itachi?  Dear?” called Mrs. Haruno.  Itachi’s heart stuttered at hearing the familiar voice in the wrong place.  “The medic nin says you’ve been in there awhile.”

“I’m nearly done,” he called back.  “Five more minutes.”

Itachi watched water droplets plink against the tile, swish around the metal drain and disappear from sight.  It was very soothing.

“Itachi?”  Itachi’s heart seized and twisted in his chest.  Painful twisting emotions bubbled up in him and bled together into an ugly whole at the sound of that second voice.  “You’ve been there for _ages!_   Way more than five minutes!”

_I’m never coming out!  Ever!  I’ll die in this shower!_

“Itachi?”  That was Mrs. Haruno again.  It had been… awhile.  “We’ve brought you miso soup and spiced orange tea.  And dango and riceballs filled with seaweed.  Please come out before it gets cold.”

Itachi’s stomach grumbled at the thought of all of his favorites in one place.

 _I’m only getting out so that… she… doesn’t get my food.  That’s the only reason._   Itachi reassured himself as he stumbled out of the shower.  He left the shower running in his wake.  _I don’t want to see – anyone.  At all.  Ever._

Drying was too much work for his cold hands.  He swabbed off the worst of the water, wrapped a towel around his hair and got dressed.  His clothes stuck to damp patches and his hair was already escaping his towel to soak his thin, hospital-issue shirt.

Itachi was unable to dredge up something resembling caring.

He stumbled out of the bathroom.

Mrs. Haruno looked appalled.

Itachi refused to look at that other person.  He hoped that she looked as distressed as her mother did.

 _She should,_ Itachi thought savagely.  _It’s her fault.  She told Inoichi._

The towel tugged at the hair on the right side of his head as it pulled free.  It flopped against the crook of his elbow, slid off and landed wetly on his bare right foot.  His hair fell heavily around his shoulders.  It left wet patches on his shirt; bigger wet patches.

Itachi’s eyes slid over to the rolling bed tray.  There was another stack of towels on it, several covered containers and a pair of chopsticks.

“Thank you,” Itachi said.  He directed the words to Mrs. Haruno with his eyes.  “And thank you for visiting me.  Please leave now.”

Mrs. Haruno nodded.  Someone who was not Mrs. Haruno sobbed.  And then Itachi was alone in the room with the hot food.

It smelled good.  Itachi’s stomach rumbled.

There was a carnation next to his meal.  It was pale pink at the edges and darkened to a deep pink in the center.  It reminded him of Mrs. Haruno’s hair.

Itachi gently picked up the flower.

It smelled sweet.

He crushed it to pulp.

 

 

Itachi woke up to familiar scents.  They made him happy… and hungry.  When he paired scents to memories, Itachi’s good mood fell.

There was food from the Haruno Tea Shop on the rolling bedside tray.  It came with a beautiful white rose.  Someone had carefully cut off all of the thorns.

Itachi liked the flower’s scent.

He ripped it to shreds.

 

 

The third time food appeared from the Haruno Tea House, it was accompanied by a large orange flower with a bulbous yellow middle and a patched stuffed animal.  It might have started life as a stuffed tiger.

Itachi slapped the tiger into the wall and flushed the flower down the toilet.

The food still tasted like sawdust.

Itachi wondered if Mrs. Haruno was losing her touch.

 

 

Sasuke came from… somewhere.  He was clean and well-fed looking so Itachi stopped worrying.  Not that he had done much worrying since he had left his cell.  Mostly he slept and admired the white, popcorned ceiling.

“Big brother?” Sasuke asked in a small, quavering voice.  It was the one he used when he was _certain_ there was a bloodthirsty cannibal hiding in his closet.  Itachi had beaten Shisui up for telling that joke in front of Sasuke.  Sasuke still had nightmares about it.  “Big brother?”

Itachi blinked at his brother.  Slowly.  He hoped that it was a very comforting blink.

Sasuke seemed to think that it was permission to clamber onto the bed with Itachi.

He told Itachi about the orphanage and leaving it to live with Shisui-nii.

“Where is Shisui-nii?” asked Itachi.  His voice sounded hoarse even to his own ears.

_I should use it more._

Sasuke looked startled but all he said was, “Talking to a nurse!  He says that you’re coming to live with us!”

Itachi was surprised to hear that.  And pleased.

“Big Brother?”

“Yes, Sasuke?”

“Where are Mother and Father?”

“I don’t know.”

Sasuke nodded.  He sat still and stared down at Itachi for a long time.  Itachi let him.

“Can you find out?”

“I don’t know,” Itachi admitted.  “Maybe.”

“Shisui-nii says that while Father and Mother are gone, you’re in charge.”

Itachi did nothing to respond.

“Not just in charge of me or Shisui-nii.  Shisui-nii says that you’re in charge of all of us.  Everyone in the Uchiha Clan,” Sasuke clarified.  He leaned over Itachi.  His head blocked out most of the overhead light.  It left his face under a weak shadow.  “Is that true, Big Brother?”

“Probably,” Itachi admitted.  “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

If things had gone according to the plan, the Uchiha clan would be a memory.  There would be no one for Itachi to be in charge of.  Sasuke might be dead.  Shisui would have died first.

_Perhaps I am not so unforgivably wronged.  Sasuke and Shisui are alive.  I still have them.  Things are better than they could’ve been even if I’m responsible for the clan now._

When Sasuke clambered out of bed to go greet Shisui, Itachi followed him.

 


End file.
